Storm Thorgerson (From HeraldScotland) Graphic designer famous for Pink Floyd album covers; Born: February 28, 1944; Died: April 18, 2013. Storm Thorgerson, who has died aged 69, was a graphic designer known for his striking, sometimes- disturbing album cover art. His most famous work was the rainbow prism design on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon. The band have often said Thorgerson's art was an integral part of their work. It is certainly one of the most recognisable album covers ever. Loading article content His career was not limited to Pink Floyd however. He also designed covers for Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel and Muse and even those not familiar with Thorgerson's name will have seen his work on vinyl collections and CD racks. Some of his covers — such as the disturbing image of a burning man in a business suit featured on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here — have become icons in their own right. His art tended toward the unsettling or the bizarre.

One particularly weird CD front for The Cranberries' Bury The Hatchet featured a monstrous, disembodied eye staring at a crouching, naked figure in a desert. Another Pink Floyd album cover — which Thorgerson said had left the record company completely berserk — featured nothing more than a picture of a cow staring out from a field. He was born in Potters Bar and after school in Cambridge, went to Leicester University in the early 1960s. He began his career with the design group Hipgnosis in the late 1960s after studying at the Royal College of Art in London and his first cover for Pink Floyd was A Saucerful of Secrets in 1968. Thorgerson described his work as a kind of fantasy job. "People pay me for my thoughts and my dreams," he once said. "I think in that sense I'm very fortunate." He said he worked by speaking to the musicians as much as possible about the music. "I listen to the music," he said, "read the lyrics, speak to the musicians as much as possible.

I see myself as a kind of translator, translating an audio event into a visual event." After the growth of the CD downgraded cover art from the status it once had, Thorgerson began to work in advertising (including for Tennent's lager) although he never found it as professionally satisfying as his work on albums. He never abandoned album cover art, however, and continued to work with modern artists such as Biffy Clyro and Muse. He is survived by his mother Vanji, his son Bill, his wife Barbie Antonis, and her two children Adam and Georgia. Pink Floyd designer Storm Thorgerson dies | Dark Side of the Moon reddit More British graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, best known for designing the iconic cover of Pink Floyd's 1973 classic album The Dark Side of the Moon', has died aged 69, his family announced on Thursday. More recently, Thorgerson created the artwork for records released by Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro, British stadium band Muse and Australian dance-rock outfit Pendulum. He was a childhood friend of Pink Floyd's founding members before becoming its design chief. His most famous creation featured a prism of glass dispersing light into its component colours.

His family revealed he was surrounded by relatives and friends at the time of his death. SHARE Pin to Pinterest PIN Link Storm Thorgerson designed many of Pink Floyd's album covers, most famously for The Dark Side of the Moon. Photo: Kate Geraghty "He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003," said a family statement. "He is survived by his mother Vanji, his son Bill, his wife Barbie Antonis and her two children Adam and Georgia." Advertisement Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist Dave Gilmour said the artworks were "an inseparable part of our work". "We first met in our early teens," he added. "We would gather at Sheep's Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing has ever really changed. "He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend.

I will miss him." AFP Storm Thorgerson, Pink Floyd Album Art Designer, Dead at 69 - Rolling Stone Storm Thorgerson, Pink Floyd Album Art Designer, Dead at 69 Storm Thorgerson, Pink Floyd Album Art Designer, Dead at 69 Created the iconic covers for 'Dark Side of the Moon,' 'Animals' and 'Wish You Were Here' Storm Thorgerson standing next to his album cover artwork for Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' Credit: AP Photo/PA, Yui Mok All Stories Storm Thorgerson, a British graphic designer who created album covers for Pink Floyd , Led Zeppelin , Muse , Genesis , Phish and many other major rock bands, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 69. "His ending was peaceful," his family said in a statement. "He was surrounded by family and friends. He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003." More News All Stories Thorgerson is most well-known for his long relationship with Pink Floyd, designing the vast majority of their album covers, including Dark Side of the Moon , Wish You Were Here and Animals.

"We first met in our early teens," David Gilmour said in a statement. "We would gather at Sheep's Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing has ever really changed. He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend. The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work." Strom Thorgerson: How I Designed the 'Dark Side of the Moon' Cover Thorgerson grew up in Cambridge, England and initially dreamed of being a filmmaker, but around the age of 15 he decided to focus on art. He met Roger Waters, Syd Barrett and David Gilmour in grade school and they remained very tight friends, and Thorgerson was a constant presence during the early days of Pink Floyd. He formed the graphic art group Hipgnosis in 1967 with his friend Aubrey Powell in 1967. Their first major work was the cover for Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets the following year.

It was a huge success and more work came his way, including Led Zeppelin's Presence , Peter Gabriel's first three solo albums and Black Sabbath's Technical Ecstasy. In more recent yeares he created art for Muse, Phish, The Cranberries, Biffy Clyro, Anthrax and Megadeth. Thorgerson spoke with Rolling Stone in 2011 about working with Pink Floyd. "I don't have much to say about music," he said. "Usually I like it, and I just absorb it. I don't have much to say, and they ain't let me say anything anyway. They say ,'For God's sake, Storm, do not harm our song. Do not murder our tune.' So I never say anything, really, about the music. I just let it go over, really, I suppose. It's my job to reinterpret it, really." His famous Dark Side of the Moon prism and rainbow design is probably the most enduring image from his career. "It related mostly to a light show," he told Rolling Stone. "The other thing was the triangle. I think the triangle, which is a symbol of thought and ambition, was very much a subject of Roger's lyrics.

So the triangle was a very a useful – as we know, obviously – was a very useful icon to deploy and making it into the prism – you know, the prism belonged to the Floyd." Despite all the changes that Pink Floyd went through over the years, they continued to work with Thorgerson until the very end of their career, even bringing him back to design the covers of their recent compilations, live albums and box set. In another 2011 interview , Thorgerson estimated that he had designed over 300 albums. "I don't really keep count," he said. "I'm privileged to work with music, so I'm happy to work . . . As long as I can keep working, and paying the rent as they call it over in England, then I'm relatively happy." Storm Thorgerson documentary puts viewers in a state of Hipgnosis – Metro Storm Thorgerson documentary puts viewers in a state of Hipgnosis PAT HEALY When Storm Thorgerson died last week, the music industry lost one of the greatest innovators of album cover art. Filmmaker Roddy Bogowa lost a friend.

When artist Storm Thorgerson died last week, the music industry lost one of the greatest innovators of album cover art in the history of recorded music. Filmmaker Roddy Bogowa lost a friend. Thorgerson — known for designing classic album covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Muse and countless others — is the subject of Bogowa’s documentary, “Taken by Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis,” screening Friday as part of the Boston Independent Film Festival. Bogowa had spent seven years working on the film and growing close with his subject, who initially seemed weary of a documentary. “I guess he’d been approached two or three times by people claiming to want to do a film on him, but really wanting to get to Pink Floyd,” says Bogowa. “I told him I didn’t want to have any of the bands in the movie. I said, ‘My idea is to just do this portrait of you and about memory.” Bogowa had been fascinated with Thorgerson since he was a record-buying teenager, but in that era, there wasn’t much information on Hipgnosis, the design team that Thorgerson ran.

“I always wondered who they were and back then,” he says of his time studying the covers while listening to the music within. “Since there wasn’t any internet or anything like that, you couldn’t really find out about them, and I don’t think there was much press on them in the States as a design company.” Eventually the pair bonded, and Thorgerson gave Bogowa access to famous friends and clients like Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, and access to his studio. “Taken by Storm” thrives off of the b-roll and alternate takes of the iconic images that Hipgnosis created. “He was kind of a demanding character, but he and I somehow clicked, to the point where his studio assistants were like, ‘Wow, it seems like you’ve known each other your whole life,’” says Bogowa. “We became close pretty fast and then we built up this trust.” Eventually the pair bonded: “We became close pretty fast and then we built up this trust." This trust led to Thorgerson giving Bogowa access to famous friends and clients like Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, and access to his studio. “Taken by Storm” thrives off of the b-roll and alternate takes of the iconic larger-than-life images that Hipgnosis created.

With Thorgerson's recent passing, one has to wonder if it is the final nail in the coffin for the music industry as one that sells tangible products. Bogowa says no. During his lifetime, Thorgerson did not seem to feel threatened by the way that album art shrank to smaller formats like the CD, and eventually the iPod screen. Right up until his end, he continued to build full-scale set pieces that any modern designer might just use Photoshop to create. “He was always like, ‘well, I can’t control it, so I don’t really worry about it,’" laughs Bogowa. "And he was always of the mind that all of his designs, even when they’re vinyl were too big of ideas for even that. "Taken by Storm" screens Friday at the Boston Independent Film Festival. For more info, visit . Before you go there though, here are a few other films we're looking forward to at the BIFF.

‘The Act of Killing’ Hanging out with the surly, unrepentant men who helped kill half a million after a failed, mid-1960s coup in Indonesia, Joshua Oppenheimer’s unconventional documentary asks them to recreate their deeds in sometimes outlandish ways, as well as getting them comfortable enough to say some of the least humane sentences ever uttered on film. Going from nightmare to dark comedy and back again, it’s a testament to how when the baddies win, evil simply becomes the norm. ‘Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia’ Filmed shortly before his death last summer, this profile of Gore Vidal tries its best to bottle up a man difficult to pin down: a populist intellectual, rejected by academia and sometimes only tolerated by the mainstream. His clashes with William F. Buckley (“the Marie Antoinette of the right wing,” as per Gore) could get a documentary of their own, but the man’s wit and complexity, and sometime bitterness, shine through. ‘Prince Avalanche’ Returning to his indie roots after a stint making stoner comedies (“Pineapple Express,” “Your Highness”), David Gordon Green (“All the Real Girls”) still stays partly dude.

Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch play lonely construction workers who bicker before bro’ing down. Both actors (Hirsch especially) do fine work, playing characters who envision themselves as something they’re not, someone more confident and in control. Irish Art News from the Red Rag Irish Art Gallery 19 April 2013 - Storm Thorgerson British artist Storm Thorgerson who designed some of the most famous music album covers of all time has died aged 69. His artworks were used for album covers of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Muse, Genesis, Phish and many other major rock bands. Thorgerson had a long association with Pink Floyd, designing the vast majority of their album covers, including Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here and Animals. Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist Dave Gilmour said the artworks Thorgerson created for the band had been "an inseparable part of our work". He died surrounded by family and friends after a long battle with cancer. 30 March 2013 - New TV Arts Show A search to find a portrait artist has been launched, with a ï¿½10,000 commission prize to paint author Hilary Mantel as first prize.

Comedian Frank Skinner and TV Broadcaster Joan Bakewell will present the Sky Arts series. Artists are invited to apply for a series of art shows which will be held in Dublin, Cardiff, Glasgow and London over the summer. Paintings from all the finalists in the competition will be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery. Featured artist Simon Davis is a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters(RP) and a past prize winner in the prestigious National Portrait Gallery BP prize. For further details email the gallery or CONTACT RED RAG GALLERY on 01451 832563 or outside the UK + 44 1451 832563 04 March 2013 - Madness Sir Peter Blake, who designed the famous album cover for The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is for the first time to appear on the front of a record in person. He appears on a special edition Madness album, 'The Ten Commandments', dressed as Moses in tribute to one of the discarded suggested titles the band considered for the album.

Other album sleeve designs by Sir Peter Blake include: Band Aid's charity single, Paul Weller's Stanley Road and Oasis' Stop the Clocks. 15 February 2013 - William Scott Exhibition in St Ives February 2013 marks the centenary of the birth of British artist William Scott who died in 1989. Across a career spanning six decades, Scott produced a body of art work that has established his reputation as one of the leading British painters of his generation. Exhibiting from the early 1950s, Scott is renowned for his powerful handling of paint in his exploration of still life, landscape and nude. To mark the achievements of this acclaimed modern painter, Tate St Ives, in association with Hepworth Wakefield and Ulster Museum, Belfast, will be showcasing a retrospective exhibition.This will be the first major showing of Scott's work in the UK for over 20 years.

The exhibition will be on show in St Ives until 6 May 2013 20 August 2012 - New Exhibition at Signal Arts Centre From Tuesday 28th August until Sunday 9th September 2012 The Signal Arts Centre is presenting a solo exhibition of art works by French artist Marion Chombart de Lauwe. A former anthropology student who later spent months sketching the treasures on display at the Natural History Museum in Toulouse, Chombart de Lauwe now turns this detail and observation into a new series of line drawings depicting urban landscapes in demolition, recently called 'A work of dissection, worthy of entomology plates,'ï¿½ by L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui Magazine. For this latest exhibition Marion explores a sense of spontaneity in drawing. Her biological depictions of urban landscapes are presented in stark contrast alongside other works that embrace the frivolousness of imagination. These vibrant works retain hints of scientific influence mixed with outsider art, where elements are taken from their original place and put elsewhere, creating a subjective landscape. 20 August 2012 - Art Resales A new art resale service has been launched by Red Rag.

The service offers an alternative to Buying and Selling art online or at auction. The scheme involves Red Rag Gallery acting as a broker on behalf of clients wishing to sell British art works, advising on market value and finding art buyers. Commission rates are similar to those of major auction houses and are inclusive of charges for promotion on the website or illustrations in catalogues. The majority of paintings sold are high value paintings by well known British artists - most of who have shown with Red Rag. Featured resale painting above - Darren Baker 'Looking Down' 28 May 2012 - Annual RHA Exhibition The Annual RHA Exhibition takes place from 29 May until 18 August. It is the longest running open submission exhibition in Ireland with over half the works selected through an open submission process. The art show offers the opportunity view Irish art works by emerging artists hanging side by side with established artists and RHA Members. The RHA Gallery is in Ely Place, Dublin. 25 April 2012 - Irish artist Louis le Brocquy Dies Irish artist Louis le Brocquy has died aged 95. One of Ireland's most renowned artists, Louis le Brocquy career spanned more than 70 years.

The painter had beenill for the past year. Irish president Michael D Higgins said Mr Le Brocquy's "pioneering approach to art, influenced by the European masters, was highly inspirational.Through painting, tapestry and print, Louis le Brocquy has provided us with individual works and collections that give the insight and response of an artist of genius to Irish history, culture and society." A self-taught artist, Mr Le Brocquy is survived by his wife and two sons. 14 July 2011 - Irish artist William Crozier William Crozier, the Scottish-born Irish artist has died age 81. He was educated at the Glasgow School of Art between 1949 and 1953. Crozier painted landscapes overcoming the boundaries between representational and abstract genres. His work often contained references to nature, although in later years he moved towards a more representational language. He was elected to Aosdana in 1992 and was an honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. In 2005 Crozier celebrated his 75th birthday with a major exhibition in Cork to celebrate the European Capital of Culture.

He died peacefully aged 81 at home on 12 July 2011. His funeral service is to be held in Wickham on 19 July 2011. 'Mayo Mountains' by Hugh O'Rourke The latest art show at Red Rag is a new exhibition which seeks to capture the vastness and ever-changing character of the sea. Featuring a wide-range of contemporary interpretations of beaches, crashing waters and shorelines in oils, acrylic and other mediums, the new exhibition at aims to reflect on our enduring fascination and enchantment with the sea. Included in the show is Irish artist Hugh O'Rourke . The show runs 19 September until 30 September. For further details email the gallery or CONTACT RED RAG GALLERY on 01225 332223 or outside the UK + 44 12225 332223 14 May 2010 - New Art Studios Pigeon House studios are having their opening night this Saturday 15 May from 7pm to 9pm at the Glen, Kinsale.

The Lord Mayor, Thomas O'Brien will officially open the art studios, located at the Old Actons hardware. The working studios will house eight contemporary visual artists, makers and designers. All are welcome to attend the opening at: The Glen, Kinsale, Cork. 10 May 2010 - Arts and Old People The NI Arts Council has announced that it is developing a new programme, in partnership with The Atlantic Philanthropies, to extend opportunities for older people to engage with the arts. The three-year programme of large and smaller-scale arts projects, which will be launched in June 2010 The scheme aims to provide older people with new opportunities to explore creatively the issues that they have identified as most important to them, particularly in the areas of health and social justice. Key themes of the artist-led programme will include, isolation and loneliness, social inclusion, poverty, dementia, and working to strengthen the voice of older people in society. 19 April 2010 - Reopening of Crescent Arts Centre Today the official re-opening of the restored ï¿½7.2 million Crescent Arts Centre takes place. The 135 year old building has been designed to bring the Centre's arts facilities up to twenty-first century standard.

The Crescent received ï¿½1.45 million from the Arts Council towards the restoration of the four-storey listed building located on University Road, Belfast. Over the last 30 years, the Centre has provided the local community with access to the arts, offering classes and workshops in many art forms. 01 April 2010 - Arts Council to offer Art Works The Arts Council of Northern Ireland is to gift its historic art collection to museums and galleries in Northern Ireland. With almost 1,200 Irish art works in the collection, the gifting scheme will increase opportunities for local people to view examples of contemporary and modern art by artists from Northern Ireland. Purchased between 1943 and 1999, the art collection includes drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, ceramics, installations and mixed media from a range of artists. The Arts Council is now inviting applications from museums and galleries in Northern Ireland which have Museums Libraries and Archives (MLA) accredited status and who are seeking to develop, or start, a permanent collection of contemporary art which includes works by artists from Northern Ireland.

Irish artist Val Byrne Coinciding with the Cheltenham Festival' a time of celebration and entertainment for Irish race enthusiasts ' is a celebration of contemporary Irish Art at the Red Rag Gallery in Stow on the Wold, from 15 March until 28 March. The Red Rag Gallery art exhibition features the work of 8 contemporary Irish artists, whose contributions span a range of visual and emotional experience ' from the endearing elaboration of the day-to-day by Anji Allen , through the quirky townscapes of Val Byrne and the evocative Irish landscapes of Cormac O'Leary and Laurence O'Toole to the finely observed and thoughtful images of cafÃ© and lounge life of Brian Smyth . Radek Rola - New Irish based artist at Red Rag Radek Rola was born in Poland in 1979. He obtained Master Degree in Business Management but was inspired and encouraged by his grandfather, a well known artist in Poland, to pursue a professional career in fine art. Much of Radek's art work is portraiture executed in acrylics and employing a limited, dark palette.

For further details email the gallery or CONTACT RED RAG GALLERY on 01225 332223 or outside the UK + 44 1225 332223 12 February 2010 - Irish Arts Aids Haiti Appeal Kilkenny artist Niamh Curry has encouraged some 30 fellow Irish artists to donate art works for an exhibition in The Narrow Space Gallery in Clonmel in aid of GOAL. Sales from the artists' works, including internationally renowned Gottfried Helnwein and Bob Dixon, will be donated directly to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal. The exhibition opens at 8pm on Friday19 February 2010. Artist ' Colin Carruthers Red Rag have announced that Antrim born Colin Carruthers is the latest artist to join the list of gallery artists. Carruthers produces contemporary paintings of the highest quality, excelling in capturing the grandeur of the natural world. Colin Carruthers paintings are often in the form of diptychs, triptychs and polyptychs. He successfully conveys the ever-changing aspects of nature in his landscape and seascape paintings.

Carruthers paintings are being shown at the leading Bath Art Gallery - Red Rag. For further details email the gallery or CONTACT RED RAG GALLERY on 01225 332223 British art ' George Underwoood The Royal Mail's New Year stamp collection for 2010 features what it says are ten of the most iconic album covers of the last 40 years. Each depicts a famous album cover with a disc coming out of the sleeve and appearing 'outside' the stamp. One of the stamps features David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972) album cover.Heddon Street in London's West End is the scene for the painting. Photographer Brian Ward helped to conceptualise Bowie's notion of the alien pop star and the sleeve was designed by Red Rag artist George Underwood with artwork by Terry Pastor. New artist at Red Rag ' Hugh O'Rourke Aodh Sean O'Ruairc D.A. (Hugh Sean O'Rourke), is a graduate of the famous Glasgow School of Art.

As an art student Sean won the prestigious MacLaine-Watters Medal at the Royal Scottish Academy's Student Competition in 1977 and in 1978 won First Prize in the Watercolour section in the John and Mabel Craig Bequest Fund Competition at Glasgow School of Art. During the same year he was shown in Glasgow's Centre for Contemporay Arts "Artists Under Thirty" exhibition, having been selected from entrants all over the country. For further details email the gallery or CONTACT RED RAG NOW on 01451 832563 or outside the UK + 44 1451 832563 18 September 2009 - Red Rag Opening New Gallery Red Rag Group have announced that they will be opening a new art gallery in the Bath later this year. Bath is a World Heritage Site and one of England's most beautiful places to visit. The new Red Rag Gallery will be located in Brock Street between the world famous Royal Crescent and The Circus. 05 September 2009 - Latest Red Rag Art Exhibition New Art Exhibition: Street Life This weekend the latest Red Rag Art Exhibition opens.

The mixed art show 'Street Life' features paintings of scenes across the world including Italy, New York, London, Paris and Havana. Irish artist Brian Smyth is participating in the show with some wonderful paintings of Italian street scenes. For further information or to purchase paintings: CONTACT RED RAG NOW on 01451 832563 or outside UK + 44 1451 832563 29 August 2009 - Sean Scully Retrospective at Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum in Belfast has announced that it is to re-open following a multi-million refurbishment with a major retrospective of art work by Sean Scully. The exhibition will run from late October 2009 to February 2010. Situated in Belfast's Botanic Gardens, the Ulster Museum opened in 1929 as a centre for collections of fine and applied art, as well as history and natural sciences. The refurbished museum is set to re-open to the public on 22 October this year with a suite of nine adjoining art galleries, a 25-metre high atrium with glass and steel walkways and new restaurant and learning zone facilities.

25 August 2009 - Irish artist Brian Smyth at Red Rag Art Show Street Life exhibition at Red Rag The September art exhibition at Red Rag is titled 'Street Life' which is a mixed art show featuring new paintings from Irish artist Brian Smyth For further information about this art exhibition: CONTACT RED RAG NOW on 01451 832563 or outside UK + 44 1451 832563 Storm Elvin Thorgerson | British graphic designer | Britannica.com British graphic designer Originally published in the Britannica Book of the Year. Presented as archival content. Britannica Stories Big Radio Burst from Tiny Galaxy Storm Elvin Thorgerson, (born Feb. 28, 1944, Potters Bar, Middlesex, Eng.—died April 18, 2013, London, Eng.?), British graphic designer who created stunning, often dreamlike LP and CD cover art for the British rock band Pink Floyd as well as for Led Zeppelin , Peter Gabriel , Styx, Muse, and other rock-and-roll artists.

Thorgerson, who acknowledged the influence of Surrealist s René Magritte and Man Ray on his work, avoided computerized graphics and crafted his eye-catching—sometimes humorous—images by using physical props (often oversized), human figures (sometimes naked), and such traditional photographic techniques as multiple exposures and colour manipulation. One iconic cover, for Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (1975), involved actually setting fire to a stuntman wearing a dress suit over asbestos, and another, for the band’s Animals (1977), featured London’s Battersea power station with a giant helium-filled pink pig floating overhead (the inflatable pig ultimately drifted away and reportedly caused problems at nearby Heathrow Airport). Perhaps his best-known image, however, was the uncharacteristically stark triangular prism on a black background for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Thorgerson grew up in Cambridge, where during his teens he became friends with the future founders of Pink Floyd. He studied English and philosophy at the University of Leicester (B.A., 1966) and received an M.A. (1969) in film and television from the Royal College of Art, London.

He began designing cover art for his Pink Floyd friends, and in the late 1960s he cofounded the design studio Hipgnosis, where he could devise ever-more-creative and more-startling imagery. In the 1980s he established StormStudios, which produced music videos, documentaries, and concert films in addition to cover art. Storm’s book collections include Mind over Matter: The Images of Pink Floyd (1997), Eye of the Storm: The Album Graphics of Storm Thorgerson (1999), For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis (2008; with Aubrey Powell), and The Raging Storm: The Album Graphics of StormStudios (2011). Pink Floyd | The Official Site Storm Thorgerson Designer and film-maker Storm Thorgerson grew up in Cambridge and was an early friend of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, all from Pink Floyd, for whom he designed many album covers, including the iconic sleeve for The Dark Side Of The Moon.

The graphic art group Hipgnosis (co-founded by Storm with Aubrey 'Po' Powell) became one of the most famed design and photographic teams in music, with covers for many other internationally successful artists, including Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Wishbone Ash, 10cc, Black Sabbath, Wings, Peter Gabriel, and Yes. After the team went their separate ways, Storm spent some time creating films and documentaries, but always maintained his design work, most recently as founder of StormStudios, which has created memorable images for Muse, Biffy Clyro, and The Steve Miller Band, as well as the graphics for the recent Why Pink Floyd? campaign. Storm Elvin Thorgerson was born in Potters Bar, Middlesex (now in Hertfordshire) on February 28th 1944. Of Norwegian heritage, he was schooled at Summerhill free school and then Brunswick Primary School in Cambridge. His secondary education was at local grammar school, the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys, alongside Syd Barrett and Roger Waters, who went on to form Pink Floyd.

He studied for a degree at Leicester University from 1963 to 1966, initially in Psychology, but he switched courses, gaining more satisfaction from attaining a BA Honours degree in English and Philosophy. However, his primary interest had always been film, so he progressed to a Masters' Degree course in Film and TV at London's Royal College of Art (1966-69). He had a variety of jobs, including being a temporary porter for British Rail, before founding Hipgnosis with fellow college student 'Po' Powell. Po, originally from Sussex, had attended school in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and had met Storm in Cambridge, striking up a friendship that led to them sharing a flat in London. The Thorgerson/Powell design company was named Hipgnosis (by juxtaposing 'hip' with the Greek 'gnosis'  to know) and their first commission was for a series of book jackets.

In 1968, wanting to break into the world of album covers, which had become much more flamboyant and art-oriented since the psychedelic explosion of 1967, Storm asked his friend David Gilmour, who had recently replaced Syd Barrett as guitarist/singer in Pink Floyd, to help persuade the other members of Pink Floyd that they should use him to do the artwork for their latest album. The resulting cover for A Saucerful Of Secrets still stands as one of the best examples of British psychedelic cover art. As Q magazine stated, the designers attempted to mirror three "altered states of consciousness"  religion, drugs, and Pink Floyd music. A studio was acquired at 6 Denmark Street in Soho and until 1982 Hipgnosis thrived as one of the best known photography and design companies. The Pink Floyd connection continued with the covers for the band's subsequent albums, including More, the double album Ummagumma (shot at the house of Storm's then-girlfriend Libby January) and Atom Heart Mother, but Hipgnosis worked with many other artists, including The Pretty Things, Syd Barrett, The Nice, T.

Rex, Marvin, Welch & Farrar, The Electric Light Orchestra, Wishbone Ash, the Climax Blues Band, and Renaissance, before the huge success of 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon and its stark graphic sleeve brought their work to a global audience. Larger budgets allowed Storm and Po more free rein, and suitably cinematic sleeves were created for clients such as Led Zeppelin (Houses Of The Holy), Genesis (The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) and 10cc (Deceptive Bends), among many others. By Storm's own admission, he was never a draughtsman, preferring to work with ideas and concepts, and many of his designs are notable for their surreal elements, placing objects out of their traditional contexts, especially with vast spaces around them, to give them an awkward appearance while highlighting their beauty. Storm has said: "I like photography because it is a reality medium, unlike drawing which is unreal. I like to mess with reality...to bend reality.

Some of my works beg the question of is it real or not?" Acknowledging the influence of Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte, Storm said: "I probably first came across Magritte via my mother, and I think my mother rather indirectly encouraged my interest in art, particularly in painting. Magritte was probably an early interest, I think because he dealt not with technique so much as with ideas, and some of them are quite funny. I like to look, because it makes me smile. "I think I took away from Magritte a sort of love of oddity, or oddness, or rather, juxtaposition or contrariness. He used to play with the reality, you know, so in a sense I have to set it up as a real thing which has been slightly twisted  that's the contrariness, the oddness. We often stage these things for real and don't do them in a computer because the reality has its own attributes.

What you see is what you get." Another element that set Hipgnosis apart from their contemporaries was their use of English puns to create a pictorial counterpart to an album's title: Wishbone Ash's Live Dates recreated the imagery of an ornately illustrated box of dates; There's The Rub by Wishbone Ash depicted a cricketer, showing evidence of him having shined the cricket ball against his trousers to add spin when bowling; 10cc's Sheet Music showed the four band members holding a giant bedsheet that engulfed the lens; UFO's Force It utilised bathroom imagery, as a pun on the US use of 'faucet' rather than the English 'tap'  and so on. Hipgnosis weren't afraid to use multiple visual techniques to effect their designs; over the years their sleeves used hyperreal photography, pencil illustration, airbrushing, photo montage, Polaroid manipulation and colour photocopying, while their design for The Dark Side Of The Moon was entirely graphic (with Hipgnosis associate George Hardie).

In spite of that, their most celebrated images are still probably the ones using Storm's favoured method of grotesquely oversizing everyday objects like balls of wool, lightbulbs and sculpted heads and then placing them in an otherworldly landscape. By the early 1980s the studio had diversified into advertising, designing and shooting campaigns for Peugeot, Kronenbourg 1664, Levi Jeans, Volvo, Gillette, Stella Artois, Rank Xerox, and The Beatles. Moving from photo design into moving pictures, Powell, Thorgerson and Peter Christopherson started Green Back Films in 1982, shooting many music videos including Big Log for Robert Plant, Wherever I Lay My Hat for Paul Young, Owner of A Lonely Heart for Yes, and Blue Light for David Gilmour. The trio wrote, produced and directed three feature films: Incident at Channel Q starring Al Corley (Sony), Train of Thought with Yumi Matsutoya (Toshiba EMI), and Now Voyager starring Sir Michael Hordern and Barry Gibb (Universal).

Green Back Films closed in 1984, with Storm and Po each striking out on their own, Storm forming successively STd (Storm Thorgerson Design), then StormStudios. StormStudios' loose group of freelancers currently includes Peter Curzon, Rupert Truman, Daniel Abbott, Lee Baker, Jerry Sweet, Laura Truman, Silvia Ruga, and Charlotte Barnes, some combinations of whom have been working with several newer artists, including Muse. In the foreword to 'Taken By Storm' (2007), a book dedicated to Storm's album art, Muse's Matt Bellamy said: "When we first met it occurred to me that he is one of the most bloody minded and stubborn grumpy sods I have ever met! He speaks his mind and has a stoic disposition, which is bold and a rarity in this fickle industry, but one which garners respect. The pursuit of his own vision, which on occasion bypasses all external input can be difficult for some to handle. However his reasoning, delivered with a mordant, even waspish, wit and a dogged attitude, ensures you come round to his point of view." Storm explained his approach: "I'm very interested in intentional ambiguity.

You know what it is, but not why it is. You might know what it is, but not how it is. There was one particular cover that was very consciously about Magritte. It was a sort of homage. It was Wish You Were Here for Pink Floyd, and we did four pictures, including a man on fire, a man diving into a lake, a veil floating in the air in Norfolk, and the man in a desert who had no features. The one that was on the back cover, which was the man in the desert, is very obviously, and was supposed to be, a Magritte thing. So I think there is a certain Magritte feeling to the cover. It does confound you a bit, because you look at it and think, well, is this real? "I mean, I am predominantly an image-maker, so I try and come up with images that will suit the music.

In the contemporary world, rather than in a gallery, I'm trying to persuade the viewer to look again, to give the album cover a second look, as they will give them in a gallery, so partly you look at it and say, 'Well, that's pretty silly, or strange, or weird  what does it mean?'" In 2010, the UK's Royal Mail paid tribute to several classic album covers by issuing them on First Class postage stamps. Included in the release was Storm's striking image for Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell, which featured two massive 9-feet high heads (drawn by Keith Breedon and sculpted by John Robertson) sited in a corn field in front of a distant Ely Cathedral. Several books have been devoted to surveying Storm Thorgerson's work, spanning the more than four decades that he had been creatively active. He famously never stopped working, and at the time of his death was pursuing various projects, including a documentary on the life and work of Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett.

Speaking of his work in 2012, Storm said: "I think it's always a very difficult thing for commercial artists and designers to pursue, against either circumstance or financial restrictions, that which you believe. So I've been very lucky, really. I was working for the [Pink] Floyd, who couldn't think of anything better to do than to hire me, and fortunately what we did worked, quite early on. "I always thought, and I still think, that Ummagumma is a great design. I probably shouldn't, as an artist, like my own work (heavens, us artists are supposed to suffer dreadfully), but I quite like it. "Film school definitely had an effect on my love of landscape. The humour, which I hope is there occasionally, like the cow [on the sleeve of Atom Heart Mother] I think just comes from the background I emerged from." He died on 18th April, 2013. His family said: "Yes, Storm has died. He passed away, on Thursday 18th April in the afternoon. His ending was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends.

He had been ill for some time with cancer though he had made a remarkable recovery from his stroke in 2003. He was in his 70th year." David Gilmour said: "We first met in our early teens. We would gather at Sheep's Green, a spot by the river in Cambridge and Storm would always be there holding forth, making the most noise, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. Nothing has ever really changed. "He has been a constant force in my life, both at work and in private, a shoulder to cry on and a great friend. "The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work. "I will miss him." Nick Mason said: "Scourge of management, record companies and album sleeve printers; champion of bands, music, great ideas and high, sometimes infuriatingly high, standards. "Defender of art over commerce at all times, and tireless worker right up to the end. Two days before he passed away, and by then completely exhausted he was still demanding approval for art work and haranguing his loyal assistants.

"Dear friend to all of us, our children, our wives (and the exes), endlessly intellectual and questioning. Breathtakingly late for appointments and meetings, but once there, invaluable for his ideas, humour, and friendship. "Irreplaceable and unforgettable, but leaving a wonderful legacy of ideas, film, writings and art work, Hipgnosis and Storm have contributed to so many musicians to engineer sums immeasurably greater than their parts." He is survived by his mother Vanji, his son Bill, his wife Barbie Antonis and her two children Adam and Georgia.

Question: Storm Thorgerson who died in April 2013 was particularly famous for designing what?
Answer: ALBUM COVERS